Industry Pranks Gamers for April Fools'

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With the video game market dominated by grim-faced stoics staring
down death and danger at every turn, it's easy to believe that
the people who design and sell them are equally joyless. That
image melts away when you see the crop of yuk-yuk worthy numbers
on April Fools' Day.

Blizzard, the company behind "World of Warcraft" and "StarCraft,"
has never shied away from a good prank, and this year is no
exception. For April Fools' Day, it plans (in jest) to add the
" Warhound "
unit to strategy game "Starcraft II."

This unit, a colossal robot, could easily break the delicate
balance between the game's three playable factions, but Blizzard
was quick to assuage fears. The company's rationale ranges from
"robots are cool and the art is amazing" to "keep [players] from
whining about them on the forums."

When questioned about how an enormous warbot makes sense for a
faction that employs only biological units, Blizzard simply
responds, "It's all very complicated, and it involves Ribosomes."

If fighting games are more your speed, Capcom has you covered.
Well-known for releasing incremental updates to its games and
charging full price for them, the Japanese developer has taken a
potshot at itself. " Super
Duper Street Fighter IV " promises to add "100% More Super!"
to the latest entry in its acclaimed series.

Perhaps you'd rather prank your friends with retail-related high
jinks. GOG (formerly Good Old Games, an online retailer that
specializes in retro PC titles) presents an idea that both
celebrates and pokes fun at the era of PC gaming before each game
had to be a system-crushing powerhouse. [See also:
The 10 Most Stunning Video Games ]

GOG describes " The
Retromator 4000 " as "a universal nostalgifier." This app
takes modern-day PC hits such as "The Witcher 2" and "Alan Wake,"
and offers two different modes to bring them back in time.
"Retro-Mated" games add pixilated graphics, obtrusive menus and a
limited color palette. "Text-Mated" games take the experience
back even further, transforming even the most sophisticated
modern adventure into a series of text prompts (like "Zork" or
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").

In terms of retail jokes, CheapShark's entry takes the cake. The
site hunts through various digital distribution services to find
the best video game prices, and made a very unusual find this
morning. Listed under the "Steam" download service, CheapShark
advertises the long-awaited " Half-Life 2: Episode
3 " for $29.99. While the link leads to a very realistic Steam
page for the product, clicking on any button reveals the gag (as
does a typo in the URL: "stteampowered").

These are some of the gaming industry's best pranks of 2013, but
there are even more shenanigans to be found elsewhere. Check out
your favorite company's site, and remember: If it seems too good
to be true, it usually is.